Netanyahu implicated in nuclear smuggling from U.S. — big story in Israel

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"The Israeli press is picking up Grant Smith's revelation from FBI documents that Benjamin Netanyahu was part of an Israeli smuggling ring that spirited nuclear triggers out of the U.S. in the 80s and 90s.

Arutz Sheva, the nationalist Israeli press:

Declassified FBI documents from a 1985-2002 investigation implicate Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in an initiative to illegally purchase United States nuclear technology for Israel’s nuclear program.

Netanyahu was allegedly helped by Arnon Milchan, a Hollywood producer with ties to Israeli prime ministers and U.S. presidents.

The original story was broken by Grant Smith at antiwar.com, "Netanyahu worked inside nuclear smuggling ring":

On June 27, 2012, the FBI partially declassified and released seven additional pages from a 1985–2002 investigation into how a network of front companies connected to the Israeli Ministry of Defense illegally smuggled nuclear triggers out of the U.S.* The newly released FBI files detail how Richard Kelly Smyth — who was convicted of running a U.S. front company — met with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel during the smuggling operation. At that time, Netanyahu worked at the Israeli node of the smuggling network, Heli Trading Company. Netanyahu, who currently serves as Israel’s prime minister, recently issued a gag order that the smuggling network’s unindicted ringleader refrain from discussing “Project Pinto.”

Netanyahu was allegedly helped by Arnon Milchan, a Hollywood producer with ties to Israeli prime ministers and U.S. presidents. Milchan's involvement in Israeli intelligence and arms dealing has been the subject of reports for some time, and was described in an unofficial biography published last year.

The documents rely on testimony from Richard Kelly Smith, a U.S. citizen charged with illegally selling Krypton triggers to Israel and Taiwan. Smith was the president of a company called Milco that worked for NASA; he allegedly sold to the Israeli Defense Ministry through the Hailey company, which was owned by Milchan.

Smith fled the U.S. in the 1980s to avoid charges. He was arrested and extradited in 2001, and in 2002 was sentenced to 40 months in jail and a $20,000 fine.

4. When is someone going to admit the obvious? The US is the world's worst nuclear proliferator

A US Navy nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania supplied the plutonium for the first couple of Israeli A-bombs which were assembled just before Israel launched the 1967 War. Ace up their sleeve.

Then, after the 1973 War, when Israel blackmailed Nixon into resupplying the IDF as Syria was about to overrun the Golan Heights, CIA Director G.H.W.. Bush Sr. evened the score by agreeing to a nuclear deal with the Saudis. Bush entered into the "Safari Club" arrangement that funded the Pakistani nuclear program and a Saudi global paramilitary capability that became al-Qaeda. A.Q. Khan provided Iraq and Iran with centrifuges, which later became the pretext for military operations against both. Meanwhile, the US continued to supply nuclear weapons technology to Israel through the proliferation ring that Netanyahu was reportedly working for.

Let's not forget, that during the Reagan-Bush years and into the Clinton Administration we also supplied China with modern, lightweight W88 MIRV warheads and related ICBM and satellite technology.

We seem to be the world's nuclear Wal*Mart. We're practically giving it away!